- Wind power’s intermittent nature is its achilles heel
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Wind energy:
The truth blows
Energy Journal 2010
1. Study after study shows that wherever wind development was put in place, natural gas demand went up and the environmental benefits were the opposite of what the advocates expected.
2. There is a huge disparity between installed capacity and actual output into the system. In many cases the actual output in the system is less than 20% and in some cases even far less.
Unbridled energy: predicting volatile wind, sun
Wall Street Journal 2009
Every wind farm and solar installation has to be backed up by a nearly equivalent amount of conventional fuel to keep the power grid running. That raises costs.
Wind power is the fastest-growing renewable source of electricity. Buoyed by government mandates and subsidies, wind farms accounted for more than half of all net electricity-generating capacity added in the U.S. in 2008, according to the Department of Energy. But capacity to produce is not actual production. Largely due to wind’s unpredictability, the thousands of wind turbines installed across the country collectively produced only 1.3% of actual U.S. electricity in 2008, the department’s figures show.
Energy ‘sprawl’ and the green economy
Wall Street Journal 2009
Renewable energy is not a free lunch. It is an unprecedented assault on the American landscape.
By far nuclear energy is the least land-intensive; it requires only one square mile to produce one million megawatt-hours per year, enough electricity for about 90,000 homes. Geothermal energy, which taps the natural heat of the earth, requires three square miles. The most landscape-consuming are biofuels—ethanol and biodiesel—which require up to 500 square miles to produce the same amount of energy. Coal, on the other hand, requires four square miles, mainly for mining and extraction. Solar thermal—heating a fluid with large arrays of mirrors and using it to power a turbine—takes six. Natural gas needs eight and petroleum needs 18. Wind farms require over 30 square miles.
There’s one more consideration. Solar collectors must be washed down once a month or they collect too much dirt to be effective. They also need to be cooled by water. Where amid the desert and scrub land will we find all that water? No wonder the Wildlife Conservancy and other environmentalists are already opposing solar projects on Western lands.
Wind turbines in Europe do nothing for emissions-reduction goals
Spiegel Online 2009
Germany’s renewable energy companies are a tremendous success story. Roughly 15 percent of the country’s electricity comes from solar, wind or biomass facilities, almost 250,000 jobs have been created and the net worth of the business is €35 billion per year. But there’s a catch: The climate hasn’t profited from these developments. As astonishing as it may sound, the new wind turbines and solar cells haven’t prohibited the emission of even a single gram of CO2.
Natural gas slide becalms wind plan
Calgary Herald 2008
Billionaire hedge-fund manager T. Boone Pickens said his plan to build a 4,000-megawatt wind farm in Texas is on hold because lower prices for natural gas would make it uneconomic. Natural gas sets the price of power in Texas during most hours because it’s used to fuel most power plants there. ‘For now,’ Boone told one reporter, ‘the wind stuff is deader than hell.‘
Does wind energy deliver the goods?
Wind Energy Tool Kit 2008
John Droz is in favor of reducing the pollutants of coal facilities. His main concern is that we should not be wasting time and money on illusionary solutions.
Clean Energy: How Do You Jumpstart It?
Wall Street Journal 2009
Since 1992, clean energy in the U.S., such as wind and solar power, has been promoted by tax credits. That probably isn’t the best way to promote clean energy. Tax credits work when businesses have taxable income they need to offset. That’s the main reason that the wind and solar lobbies called for “refundable tax credits” that would give companies credit even if they aren’t in the black. The bigger problem with tax credits is that they can actually distort the electricity market, as in Texas, where wind-power producers beholden to the production tax credit had to keep their turbines spinning even when they were churning out power that was less than worthless.
Wind energy sweeps plains; course correction in order?
New Mexican 2009
With our nation on the verge of an alternative-energy boom, the chorus of concern about fast-proliferating wind farms is growing. And the closer someone is to the turbine towers, the greater the concern – not just over eyesores and headaches, real and imagined, but over noise, over threats to birds and bats, even over electromagnetic radiation that might or might not be surging out into the atmosphere. Wiith oilman Boone Pickens pushing wind generation, whatever his motives, and the Western Plains soon to be the scene of some kind of wind rush, utility regulators, environmental officials, land planners and promoters alike ought to ask themselves – and each other –where this lurch into alternative energy might take us.
UK at Risk of Power Shortages as Result of Wind Energy
Telegraph UK 2008
A study by Capgemini, a global energy consultancy firm, claims that UK electricity generation has fallen to its lowest level in ten years. The shortage has been caused by the increase in the level of demand for energy combined with a growing tendency to build wind turbines, at the expense of other, more reliable, electricity sources, it says. A spokesman for Capgemini said that unless new power stations are built “the lights will go out”.
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Comment…
Wind generated electricity gets a lot of attention. This leads many people to believe it’s the silver bullet that will solve American energy issues. But nothing could be further from the truth. Studies have shown that wind energy have not resulting in CO2 emissions. The most optimistic wind experts see wind supplying only 20% of America’s electricity demand. In my opinion, wind energy will never exceed 5% regardless of the subsidies we pour into it.
Frankly, there just are too many problems with wind energy:Wind zealots guild the lilly when they discuss productivity, wind farms have huge real estate requirements and the national electrical grid needs to be rebuilt for wind energy to grow much beyond its present 1%. Moreover, Europe is just now discovering their wind farms failed to replace emissions-belching coal generation plants – which of course is the primary purpose of green energy.
On the good side: Wind energy emits nothing. When backed-up by natural gas generation – not coal – wind can decrease overall CO2 emissions. Plus, wind energy while may be intermittent, it isn’t volatile. The electricity generated by wind farms is generally sold at fixed prices in long-term contracts to utilities and other big users. Natural gas and to some extent coal have the opposite problem: They provide a constant source of power, but prices can fluctuate wildly.
Intermittant Nature of Wind
Wind blows only part of the time, so wind generates electricity only part of the time. For instance, Texas wind farms on average produce at only 9% of their capacity when electricity demand is the highest. Yet, wind advocates tend to avoid discussing the intermittant nature of wind. And when they do, they tend to be about 50% too optimistic.
We have only to look at Europe. There, pushed by the Green Party, Denmark and Germany have operated vast windfarms for a decade. What’s their experience? According to their government reports their wind farms produce at only 20% of capacity. That means a 1,000 MW windfarm produces on average only 200 MW. Because peak generation comes at night, in some years only 5% of Danish wind generated electricity actually is used by Danish consumers.
Wind Cannot Replace Coal
Wind energy needs a backup for those days when there is not wind. Unfortunately, that task often falls to coal generation plants. The problem is that coal generation plants always emit CO2 because they cannot be readily turned-on or -off. Maybe wind energy lessens the tonnage of CO2 emitted, but to call wind energy carbon-free misses an important point.
It’s my understanding that not a single coal plant has been retired by wind energy in Denmark or Germany. Since reducing CO2 was the stated goal that set them to install thousands of wind turbines over the past couple decades, one cannot say that wind energy has been successful for Europe.
Huge Real Estate requirements
The wind may be free but real estate isn’t. Wind farms require huge amounts of real estate – the DOE says that if wind were to deliver 20% of the country’s electricity, wind farms would require more real estate than New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington DC combined.
— Robert Moen
rmoen@energyplanUSA.com
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Wind energy stimulus dollars spent overseas
Financial Times 2009
More than eight out of 10 US stimulus dollars spent on wind energy farms have gone to foreign companies, according to a report by the Washington-based Investigative Report Workshop, a non-profit journalist group. Officials in Barack Obama’s administration say the $22bn set aside in the $787bn stimulus for alternative energy funding is designed to create or retain jobs and stimulate economic activity. But the report shows the majority of jobs are likely to have been created overseas. The 11 US-based wind farms that received cash grants from the US Treasury have imported 695 of the 982 wind turbines that are to be installed. Since the manufacture of turbines is by far the largest employment generator in wind energy, it is estimated to have created 4,500 jobs overseas – far in excess of the jobs created in the US from these grants.
Beware windpower’s “homes served” claims
MasterResource Energy Blog 2009
False statements about “homes served” by wind developers and their lobbyists are bad enough, but it is discouraging to hear politicians, reporters, and others adopt and regurgitate them. The concept is always misleading since residential users of electricity account for only 37% of all U.S. electricity use. Using “homes served” when talking about wind turbines and “wind farms” is both false and misleading for several reasons.
Recession, oil prices undercutting costly wind generators
Building Design & Contruction 2009
Between 2006 and 2008, generation of electricity from wind in the United States more than doubled to 21,000 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association. But today wind-power projects nationwide are being delayed or put on the backburner due to economic turmoil.
The potential delays to some wind farm projects also have to do with the transmission lines than lining up financial backers. In one Maine project the developer must resolve an issue about how much it should contribute toward a $600 million transmission line connecting northern Maine to the New England power grid. The utilities also warn that an abrupt interruption of wind power feeding into the grid from from a single county could disrupt the entire system and cause widespread blackouts.
Denmark’s 20% Wind Stats Mislead
National Wind Watch 2008
Wind proponents often claim 20% of Denmark’s electricity is produced by wind power. This statistic does not stand up to scrutiny, however.
Denmark has the world’s highest concentration of wind turbines in the world. Its 5,267 turbines (2005) produce the ‘equivalent’ of about a fifth of its annual demand for electricity. However, almost half of that generation is exported, often at dumping prices. Moreover, in 2005 as much as 9% of its electricity consumption was satisfied by nuclear-based energy produced elsewhere.
Despite its ‘green’ reputation, Denmark remains amongst the world’s biggest consumers of coal and producers of carbon dioxide per capita. Moreover, many Danes feel that the proliferation of these large machines and supporting facilities has restricted public access to many parts of the countryside, detracted seriously from the former charm, beauty and peace of their landscapes and coastlines, and impacted badly on many home environments and wildlife habitats.
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Clean energy sources: sun, wind and subsidies
Wall Street Journal 2010
Critics say subsidies of any kind waste taxpayer dollars. But even fans of renewable energy worry this public largesse is costing too much. They say renewable energy deserves subsidies to help it mature to the point where it can compete against fossil fuel. But they are concerned that society, in its haste to roll out wind turbines, solar panels and other forms of clean power, is spending billions of dollars without spurring as much renewable energy as it could. The recession has worsened the waste, they say, as governments increase subsidies to meet renewable-energy targets and create “green” jobs.
For every unit of energy renewable energy produces, it is often subsidized more heavily than fossil fuel. Government spending and price supports accounted for about one-third of the roughly $145 billion invested world-wide in clean energy in 2009, New Energy Finance estimates.
Now, as part of the Obama administration’s stimulus plan, renewable-energy producers are eligible for cash grants totaling 30% of the cost of projects they start this year — however high those costs go.
China’s wind farms come with a catch: coal plants
Wall Street Journal 2009
China’s ambition to create “green cities” powered by huge wind farms comes with a dirty little secret: Dozens of new coal-fired power plants need to be installed as well.Officials want enough new coal-fired capacity in reserve so that they can meet demand whenever the wind doesn’t blow. This is important because wind is less reliable as an energy source than coal, which fuels two-thirds of China’s electricity output. Wind energy ultimately depends on wind strength and direction, unlike coal, which can be stockpiled at generators in advance.
Wind power: expensive and unreliable
Energy Tribune 2008
Wind has been the cornerstone of almost all environmentalist and social engineering proclamations for more than three decades. But Europe, getting a head start, has had to cope with the reality borne by experience and it is a pretty ugly picture: an industry plagued by high construction and maintenance costs, highly volatile reliability and a voracious appetite for taxpayer subsidies.
The U.K.’s wind operation provides the ideal case study. In fiscal year 2007-08 U.K. electricity customers were forced to pay a total of over $1 billion to the owners of wind turbines. That figure is due to rise to over $6 billion a year by 2020 given the government’s plan to build 25 gigawatts of wind capacity, in a bid to shift away from fossil fuel use. But for all the public investment, wind produces a mere 1.3 percent of the U.K.’s energy needs.
In the journal Energy Policy gas turbine expert Jim Oswald, offered a series of damning conclusions: not only is wind power far more expensive and unreliable than previously thought, it cannot avoid using high levels of natural gas as old-style gas turbines back-up the wind turbines.
In 2006, according to U.K. government statistics, the average load factor for wind turbines across the U.K. was 27.4 percent. Thus a typical 2 megawatt turbine actually produced only 0.54 MW of power on an average day. Worse still, says Oswald, long periods of calm over recent decades occurred in the dead of winter when electricity demand is highest.
Texas wind farms produce at 8.7% of capacity at peak demand
ERCOT Press Release 2007
Wind energy is good, clean energy and should be used to the fullest of its capability. At the same time, wind does not blow at a constant level, and in Texas is often at a low level at the time of the peak electrical demand during summer afternoons. ERCOT studies the availability of wind generation using its historical wind generation data. Using 2006 data, ERCOT has determined that 8.7% of the installed wind capability can be counted as dependable capacity during the peak demand period for the next year.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to 22 million Texas customers – representing 85 percent of the state’s electric load and 75 percent of the Texas land area.
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A Larry Summers memo exposes the high cost of energy corporate welfare
Wall Street Journal 2010
An eight-page October 25 memorandum to the President walks through an interagency dispute about Energy Department subsidies for wind, solar and other forms of “renewable” power.
Recall that the stimulus transformed the government into the world’s largest private equity firm. The many tools now at DOE’s disposal include $6 billion to guarantee loans and another dispensation so that the department can convert an energy investment tax credit equal to 30% of a project’s cost into a direct cash grant to green developers.
The Summers memo notes that these two provisions alone reduce “the cost of a new wind farm by about 55% and solar technologies by about half relative to a no-subsidy case.” Developers had almost no “skin in the game,” meaning that their equity in projects was well below ordinary standards in the private market.
The memo also notes wind farms often can could sell power at “above-market rates” because ofrenewable portfolio standard mandates, which require utilities to buy a certain annual amount of wind, solar, etc.
An ill wind blows for Denmark’s green energy revolution
Telegraph co.uk 2010
Denmark, the world’s most windfarm-intensive country, is turning against the turbines. Danes pay some of Europe’s highest energy tariffs – on average, more than twice those in Britain.
Ill winds blow for wind and clean energy
Wall Street Journal 2009
While problems plague all kinds of green-energy efforts, wind power has been hit especially hard. Growth in wind-power capacity this year is expected to be three-quarters of the increase in a record 2008, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
One reason for the pullbacks is the plunge in natural-gas prices. Natural-gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange have fallen 72% from a year ago. Power plants that burn natural gas become even cheaper to operate when gas prices are low. Other clean-energy technologies, such as solar power, are even more expensive than wind.
And that is without the credit crunch, which has been even more of a problem for clean-energy projects than some other sectors.
Another problem is electricity transmission. Wind farms and other forms of clean energy are usually located in remote locations and require huge new transmission lines to carry the electricity to cities. The U.S. Department of Energy last year cited transmission as the biggest hurdle to full-scale wind-power development in the U.S.
Wind power is a complete disaster
Financial Post 2009
There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The European experience is instructive. Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating the equivalent of 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).
Lawyers advise taking care in wind-turbine contracts
NewsOK 2009
Wind farm leasing in Oklahoma is a little like the Wild West. Experts say there’s virtually no regulation and lots of opportunity for landowners to either profit or make deals they’ll later regret. A typical Oklahoma lease might start out with a 4% royalty payment and escalate by a half percent every few years through the term of the lease, he said. That allows a developer to recover upfront costs before having to pay higher lease payments. Sometimes a developer will guarantee the landowner a certain amount per wind turbine but pay a royalty, instead, if the royalty amount exceeds the guaranteed fee, Ferrell said. Other leases call for a landowner to be paid a fee for each wind turbine plus a royalty — but the royalty is usually a lower percentage on those lease.
UK parliament pegs wind ‘capacity factor’ at 10-20%
The Economics of Renewable Energy 11.25.2008 — See Paragraph 109
Promoters overstated environmental benefit of wind farms
Telegraph UK 12.21.2008
The UK wind farm industry admits that the environmental benefit of wind power in reducing carbon emissions is only half as big as it had previously claimed. Twice as many wind turbines as previously calculated will be needed to provide the same degree of reduction in Britain’s carbon emissions.
Micro-wind turbines and their role in combating global warming
bre Media Center 2010
A British report into domestic micro-wind turbines published by the BRE Trust shows that in many urban areas they are unlikely to pay back either their carbon emissions or the home owner’s costs for installation and maintenance. The results show that, in windy locations such as the outskirts of Wick and parts of Portsmouth, domestic micro-wind turbines can generate sufficient energy to pay back their carbon costs within a few months to a few years and then go on to make a positive contribution to combating global warming, but in large, less windy urban areas such as Manchester they are very unlikely to ever pay back their carbon costs.
Got wind? Turbines for the green home
Time 11.20.2008
For homeowners seeking renewable-energy sources, however, better-known solar power has always dominated. That’s partly because residential wind turbines require space and sky – at least half an acre of open land – to get access to consistent winds. Small turbines, unlike large wind farms, can be productive in weaker breezes, which puts more of the country into play, though the best areas are still windy spots like the Midwest or West Texas. When Congress passed the bailout bill this fall, it added a 30% tax credit for small-wind projects.
But . . .
Home turbines don’t provide much electricity
Telegraph UK 1.13.2009
Manufacturers claim some of the new micro turbines can provide 30 per cent of a household’s electricity needs. However, a wide-ranging UK study so far found that on average the wind turbines only generate 214 watt hours per day, including when the turbine is switched off for maintenance or due to failure. This is enough electricity to power four low energy lightbulbs for a day or less than 5% of a household’s daily electricity needs.
Federal tax credit boosts home wind turbine market
The Daily Republic 2009
The wind turbine on Doug Auch’s Douth Dakota’s homestead knocks 40 percent to 50 percent off his monthly electric bill, a benefit he’s developing into a business opportunity as eastern South Dakota’s new Southwest Windpower dealer. And for the first time, Auch and his industry colleagues will have a silent partner – the U.S. government. The $700 billion federal bailout of the nation’s financial sector established a residential wind investment tax credit of $1,000 per kilowatt of capacity, providing up to $4,000 in assistance. |
Wind energy obstacles and potential
Gerson Lehrman Group 2009
If our renewable energy plans are to be achieved, massive numbers of wind energy installations are on the way. Getting wind where it currently stands today (producing just 1% of U.S. annual electricity) required a $25 billion investment. It will take an estimated $500 billion to be invested in wind energy to reach that 20% target in the U.S. alone. To be able to leverage the wind resources, a series of new high-voltage transmission lines is needed to transmit electricity from wind plants to population centers.
However, many wind developers have scaled back their plans. In recent years, wind energy development has hinged on Production Tax Credits. Tax equity financing of wind projects maximizes tax efficiency and provide institutional tax investors a preferred rate of return. However, even at the height of the market the tax equity participants were not many and due to the economic factors of recent months, there numbers are smaller still.
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The Big Green Lie 